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WASHINGTON — The D.C. transit system must allow a pro-Israel ad that equates Muslim radicals with savages, a federal judge ruled Friday. A spokesman for the Metro system said it would comply with the judge’s decision and that the advertisements would go up over the weekend.

“The result is absolutely correct,” said David Yerushalmi, a lawyer representing the American Freedom Defense Initiative, the organization behind the advertisements. “There simply was no way under the First Amendment jurisprudence that we have today that this ad should not have gone up when contracted.”

The one-page ruling from U.S. District Judge Mary Collyer follows a similar court order in New York that cleared the way for anti-jihad ads to go up in that city’s subway system last month. The ads read: “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad.”

Debate over the ads flared two weeks ago against the backdrop of violent reaction in the Middle East to the online video, “Innocence of Muslims,” which denigrated the prophet Muhammad . Metro had delayed approving the ads because of safety concerns and the uproar over that video.

The transit system’s lawyers called the ad’s message “fighting words in the context of current events” and said the FBI was investigating a promise of violence if the ads ran in Washington. Still, the violence that roiled the region has largely abated since then, and there have been few reports of mischievous or hostile reactions to the ads since they appeared in New York.

The New York ads went up in 10 stations across Manhattan on Sept. 24. Since then, an Egyptian-born U.S. columnist was arrested for spray-painting the ad, though two religious groups say that, starting Monday, they’ll hang ads urging tolerance alongside the anti-jihad ones. The ads also appeared recently on city buses in San Francisco, where some have been defaced or have had words removed.

The ads won’t be particularly visible in the Metro system. One ad will appear in each of four Metro stations for one month, said Metro spokesman Dan Stessel.

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Jihad is important attribute of Islam. Fighting against Jihad means fighting against attribute of Islam,therefore fighting against Muslims. Is US law protecting their Muslim citizens or it is allowing some groups hatefully fight against Muslims? Is Muslim community feels safe in this hostile environment? The enemies of God spit there words with venomous hatred. They must be prosecuted for committing hate crimes against Muslim community.
We Muslims must organize and unite to protect our Muslim identity. The enemies of God first called us: extremist after Islamist. Now they call us savages because we protect attributes of our religion. Now they call us Jihadists because we fight against injustice, hate and oppression.
We have to declare Jihad against oppression,occupation, hate and injustice. We have to organize march all over the world and declare that attributes of Islam must not be used in hateful speeches. Defaming attributes of Islam must be punished by Laws around the World. We have to declare Jihad against hate speech!
God is our ally.

Ok. I say let the ads be posted. The American people do not believe in hatred and the more hatred that gets posted by anti-Muslim groups the more people will open up and become curious and supportive of Muslims. All these tactics will back fire against people who try to spread hatred. So let them have at it.

Here is where Muslims in America can show how to put together a proper and effective response to such incitement. The sponsors of that poster are truly idiotic and evil war mongers who want to get a violent rise out of Muslims. We should however use the tools we have at our disposal within the law to effectively respond to such garbage. Indeed the words I have chosen to describe the ad and its sponsors are a part of my right to free speech, correct?
What if:
1. Individual private citizens make their views known regarding the ad in letters to the editors of media outlets? Don't curse, but don't necessarily be polite either, Be "civilized" and smart in the most biting and serious manner. Everyone can't do that for sure but some are good at it.
2. Mainstream organizations who supposedly work so hard for Muslims i.e. CAIR, ISNA, ICNA should team with local Muslim organizations that gather thousands at conventions right here in Washington, DC (and who ride the Metro no doubt) to compose a united and thoughtful but pointed response such as an ad that shows the anti-Semitic, uncivilized nature of the offensive ad towards Muslims. It needs to be called what it is in no uncertain terms. Who is stoking hatred and bias? Who is attempting to incite passions and cause trouble in civil society? David Yerushalmi and the American Freedom Defense Initiative?
3. Remember that their purpose is to get Muslims to react in some violent fashion to 'prove' their unsubstantiated point. Couldn't the "Muslims In Defense of Religious Freedom In America" respond in kind with an ad that shows an Israeli soldier standing over a Muslim child with a rifle or Palestinian families behind barbed wire, or settlers tearing down and occupying the property of Arabs or the home of a family being bulldozed with a caption like "War is fomented by uncivilized and savage nations against the innocent. Support the innocent, Defeat Zionism". Maybe you don't want to go tit for tat BUT the main thing is to respond and not just lie back and allow this type of thing to go unchallenged. Wallahu 'alam.